Benghazi survivor: Help was close enough but never sent

posted at 8:01 am on April 30, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

Were they? Kerry Picket snags this clip from a Fox News exclusive last night for Breitbart, but pay close attention to the timing expressed by the Benghazi survivor/witness, and remember the attack didn’t stay constant:

A special operations member who witnessed the attack on the U.S. Mission unfold in Benghazi, Libya on September 11 last year, as well as debriefed those who took part in the response, spoke with Fox News’ Adam Housley on Monday night and revealed information that directly contradicts the administration’s insistence that there was not enough time nor resources to send to Benghazi to help State Department employees, contractors, and intel operatives who were under a terrorist attack. FNC kept their source’s identity hidden, as witnesses to the Benghazi attack have reportedly been intimidated by the administration into silence. The assault left four Americans dead, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens.

“I know for a fact that C110 was doing a training exercise not in the region of northern Africa but in Europe and they have the ability to react and respond,” the special ops member told FNC.

The C110 is a 40-man special operations commanders and extremists force. They are capable of rapid response and deployment and are specifically trained for Benghazi attack-like incidents. The night of the attack, according to the special op, they were training 3 & 1/2 hours away in Croatia.

“We have the ability to load out, get on birds, at a minimum stage. C110 had the ability to be there, in my opinion, in 4 to 6 hours from their European theater to react. They would have been there before the second attack,” he said, adding, “And you hear a whole bunch of advisers say, ‘We wouldn’t have sent them there, because the security was an unknown situation.’ If it’s an unknown situation, at a minimum, you send forces there to facilitate the exfill—medical, injuries. We could have sent a C130 to provide medical evacuation for the injured.”

All true — but consider that what we think of as the attack on the Benghazi consulate was actually two separate attacks. The first on the consulate began at 9:30 pm, when the first shots were fired, and was over by 11 pm. Security reinforcements from Tripoli arrived at the fallback annex at 1:45 am, about 4 hours after the first attack began and slightly under 3 hours after it ended. Shortly after, a second attack hits the annex and lasts for a little over an hour, when Glenn Doherty and Tyrone Woods were killed.

Now, if the C110 group had been called to Benghazi from Europe right at 9:30 pm, they might have arrived in time to fight the second attack on the annex — but only just barely, based on the estimate of this survivor/witness; 4 hours would have been 1:30 am. The security detail from Tripoli, which was much closer, had only just arrived in time for the second firefight, at 1:45. Bear in mind, though, that the Tripoli detachment came on their own rather than waiting for orders from State, which were not forthcoming anyway:

Instead, seven men who were American reinforcements in Tripoli, along with Agent Glenn Doherty, commandeered a jet and flew to Benghazi. Ultimately, Doherty and Tyrone Woods would be killed on the roof of the CIA annex.

The special op member told Fox News, “If it wasn’t for that decision, I think we would be talking completely different about this situation. I think you would be looking at 20 plus hostages captured by AQ or you would be looking at a lot of dead Americans in Benghazi.”

In other words, they weren’t even calling Tripoli, let alone Europe.

The better question in this case isn’t the status of response forces in Europe. It’s why the State Department ignored multiple security warnings from the late Ambassador, why the Obama administration couldn’t figure out that the anniversary of 9/11 would be a critical day to prepare against attacks, and why the US ignored the warning signs that had led all other Western nations to leave Benghazi before our consulate got sacked. By the time of the actual attack on 9/11, it was too late in more ways than one for the US to respond. The red lights had been flashing for weeks or even months, and everyone ignored them almost to the last moment.

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Comments

“What difference, at this point, does it make?” - Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton“I don’t intend to come up here [Congress] next year and talk about this … [Benghazi]…” – Secretary of State, John F. Kerry
Of course along the same lines as the Affirmative Action Preezie Choombro Kardashian Soetoro Obamugabe the Panahou High School bench scrub the REAL NEWS is about a slightly better skilled basketball player who now needs his 15 minutes of fame says he’s GAY.
Right, Manure Stream Media?
Give them circuses and bread!
Rome burns and King Putt is planning his next multi-million dollar vacation with early T-times.

“‘The organizer’s first job is to create the issues or problems,’ and ‘organizations must be based on many issues.’ The organizer ‘must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act. . . . An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent.’”

The security detail from Tripoli, which was much closer, had only just arrived in time for the second firefight, at 1:45. Bear in mind, though, that the Tripoli detachment came on their own rather than waiting for orders from State, which were not forthcoming anyway

Coming back from a work trip from Cairo, I bumped into someone who works for the US government in North Africa. We got to talking about Benghazi, and he told me that there was a small SF unit in Tripoli, but was told to STAND DOWN by the acting general in charge of them. They requested to go on that flight with the State personnel, but were DENIED. That bird stood on the tarmac in Tripoli for some time before taking off. The reasoning; they didn’t know what was happening on the ground. Everything was not done to assist the Annex in Benghazi.

Example would be taking off in a C-130 off Dong Ha air field on three engines to do a night jump into the CoRoc area to help a S.O.G. team that was pinned down the same day we came out ourselves under fire at our get out lz.

President Nixon was forced to step down over his part in ‘helping hide several minutes of audio tape’.

THIS S.O.B. aided AL-QAEDA-backed rebels take over Libya, shirked his responsibility to protect our Ambassador by entrusting his safety to tribal groups consisting of those same AL-QAEDA-backed rebels, failed to protect Stevens during 2 terrorist attacks, denied him the additional security he pleaded for after those attacks, ignored Stevens’ warning that if a 3rd attack occurred & he was still denied the security he needed that he would die, and sat his ar$e in the War Room of the White House – the same War Room in which he watced Navy SEALS kill OBL – and watched the man he abandoned over and over again become the 1st U.S. Ambassador to be killed in over 30 years.

He also not only refused to send in the help that was available, he ORDERED the team that was preparing to go to the aid of those in Benghazi to ‘Stand Down’ — when Gen Ham, AFRICOM Commander, decided to send his troops in anyway he had Ham relieved of Command…then allowed him to retire quietly! The Navy SEALs were there for Obama when he ordered them to kill OBL, afterwhich OBAMA took the credit. When the Navy SEALS fought for their lives in Benghazi … for 12 (TWELVE) HOURS… this SEEMINGLY Islamist Extremist-sympathizing POS BETRAYED them. He did not just NOT take action – he took action alright – he ordered the rescue team that was specially trained for this exact situation to ‘STAND DOWN’! He abandoned – betrayed – Americans under fire, who fought for their lives!

And Americans not only allowed the traitors – Hillary & Obama – to blow this off, cover it up, stall, and attempt to make it go away — they voted this POS back into office after doing so! He KNEW about the whistleblowers being threatened to keeep their silence BEFORE HE HAD HIS PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY — the person who put 2 of the many letters IN HIS HAND was there today to hear him lie to his & the medias’ faces!

Nixon – forced to step down over a few minutes of tape.
Clinton – Impeached by the House for perpetrating a felony count of perjury under oath in a court of law….

OBAMA abandoned & betrayed an American Ambassador – the 1st to die in over 30 years – and Americans who fought for their lives for over 12 hours as they waited for help to come…on the anniversary of 9/11!

If Obama is not Impeached over THIS, then what in the H@LL will our partisan criminal politicians & pathetic, fat/lazy ‘take-care-of-my-every-need’ Americans ever find offensive enough to relieve a President of his office/position?

Any of you who don’t call your representatives & DEMAND justice, don’t ever stand for the raising of the colors again, don’t every cheer for our troops again, don’t give to the USO, Wounder Warrior project, or pay any form of respect to our soliders who sacrifice for YOU again if you are just so willing to BETRAY them as well now by letting this go! Those Navy Seals fought for YOU – do you have an ounce of courage / appreciation for them now to fight for THEM?

I sat in a room and watched the faces of fellow SEALs as they waited for news that a response team was on the way….then when we all got the word that the order to Stand Down had been given…and finally word that Ham had been relieved. You wanna talk about some ANGRY, P.O.ed (and rightfully so) military members?!

Tried to make it appear that it was merely a demonstration (after dark) that somehow got out of hand.
– This was the 3rd terrorist attack against Stevens & certainly was no ‘demonstration’. How many demonstrations do you see that start by people who happened to be carrying ROCKET LAUNCHERS – the same ones Obama failed to secure when he helped Libya fall? The CIA has already stated that when the attack began they IMMEDIATELY sent cables to the W.H. War Room (If no one knew where Obama was then why send cables to the War Room?) and to the State Department? (So, the State Department has NO ABILITY to reach the Secretary of State in case of….oh, I don’t know…something like SEVERAL of our Embassies being over-run on the anniversary of 9/11 & our Ambassador in Libya being killed and dragged through the street?!)

Not enough time?
- Ummm, 12 hours wasn’t enough time?

Patriot Vet on April 30, 2013 at 1:54 PM
– PV, the acting General was Gen Ham’s 2nd – Ham was relieved of command when he voiced his intent to send the response team anyway. Thanks for verifying.

As far as the General who relieved Ham….I pray the day will not come when the military is asked to choose a side; however, THAT DECISION was the wrong one! He KNEW his fellow soldiers were fighting for their lives & we had troops who could respond – SHOULD HAVE responded! Instead of doing the RIGHT THING he followed the orders of this Communist-tutored, Racist Hate-Spewing pastor-mentored Community Organizer and aided in the betrayal of soliders/fellow Americans!

Example would be taking off in a C-130 off Dong Ha air field on three engines to do a night jump into the CoRoc area to help a S.O.G. team that was pinned down the same day we came out ourselves under fire at our get out lz.

And we were just a tech team on sensor install work.

APACHEWHOKNOWS on April 30, 2013 at 2:02 PM

Yes, and I respect this type of aggressiveness. Unfortunately, you probably wouldn’t find anyone to authorize a c-130 to launch with only 3 engines these days. We have an extremely risk averse military now. This is why Obama should have been awake and pushing from the top.

For all of you hollywood cowboys out there that don’t really understand the gravity of what is being said in these blogs here is somethings to keep in mind. These warriors operate because they believe:

1. They have the best training in the world.
2. They have the best equipment in the world.
3. They have the best BACKUP support in the world.

If one element starts to break down the whole system has the potential of collapsing. That my friends is what we are starting to see. Not just a cover-up for reelections but a destruction of a combat system.

Yes, and I respect this type of aggressiveness. Unfortunately, you probably wouldn’t find anyone to authorize a c-130 to launch with only 3 engines these days. We have an extremely risk averse military now. This is why Obama should have been awake and pushing from the top.

blink on April 30, 2013 at 4:35 PM

Risk-averse “Brass” politicians, and not more than a few real warriors among them, alas ’tis true.

F-16′s in Italy coulda been providing sonic booms at 500 feet to scare away the rodents within an hour or so. Akzed on April 30, 2013 at 10:28 AM

A loaded F-16 wouldn’t have had the hi-lo-hi combat range to get from Aviano to Benghazi and back.

And would you have waited to get dip clearance from Libya for the flight, or have had it just take it’s chances with Libyan air defense (without coordinating any COMINT, ELINT, or ECM support)? It probably would have been ok with Libyan air defense, but I’m just wondering if you would have definitively ordered this if you had been in charge. blink on April 30, 2013 at 11:11 AM

Didn’t say fully loaded with Chris Christie at the controls.

Sigonella is 450 miles from Benghazi. Why choose Aviano?

Yeah, I would have done this, but someone in the military who is in charge of jet fighter planes and all would have done something even smarter. All that was needed was leadership and a sense of duty at the top.

Patriot Vet on April 30, 2013 at 1:54 PM
– PV, the acting General was Gen Ham’s 2nd – Ham was relieved of command when he voiced his intent to send the response team anyway. Thanks for verifying.

easyt65 on April 30, 2013 at 4:06 PM

Yes, it was his 2nd, as Ham was in Washington with the president during Benghazi happened. His second was in charge and denied the troops, under his command in Tripoli to go with the State Department contingent. Ham knew what was going on with his second. The question becomes: why hasn’t anyone talked to the operators that were denied their request to support the annex? Why weren’t UAV’s out of Djibouti sent to support the annex? Flight time from Djibouti is ~4 hours, but they would have had some already in-flight, so that time would be cut down.

I bumped into someone who works for the US government in North Africa.
Patriot Vet on April 30, 2013 at 1:54 PM

I’m so happy to hear that this guy knew everything. Where did he get his information?
blink on April 30, 2013 at 4:38 PM

He knew the guy in Tripoli; it was a buddy of his in SF. He was surprised that no one had talked to him about it. No one has even approached him about it. I still have the guy’s card that I met in the airport, but I can’t remember his friends name in Tripoli. I hope that he is one of the guys that is talking.

One other thing. The guy in Tripoli said that the Regional Security Officer (RSO) was useless, and was clueless as what to do. No one has talked to that guy, either. They only talked to the RSO that left PRIOR to the attack. It is strange that he hasn’t been before congress.

a better question is why, since Cairo was ALREADY under attack, the forces were not on alert.
I bet they were so the response time would have been faster.
we already had one embassy being attacked before benghazi happened.

Yes, and I respect this type of aggressiveness. Unfortunately, you probably wouldn’t find anyone to authorize a c-130 to launch with only 3 engines these days. We have an extremely risk averse military now. This is why Obama should have been awake and pushing from the top.

blink on April 30, 2013 at 4:35 PM

But we all know that Obama had more important things to do that night, like catch a few Z’s on the flight to an important fundraiser in Vegas!

a better question is why, since Cairo was ALREADY under attack, the forces were not on alert.

dmacleo, a better question is:

WHY WAS THE STATE DEPARTMENT & THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SO WOEFULLY PREPARED FOR ANYTHIN ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 – ESPECIALLY, HOWEVER, IN BENGHAZI WHERE 2 PREVIOUS TERRORIST ATTACKS HAD BEEN PERPETRATED AGAINST AMBASSADOR STEVENS?

In Cairo the Marines guarding the Embassy were ordered NOT TO CARRY LIVE AMMO that day! WHY?!
o We know now that the Muslim Brotherhood gave the OK to a ‘rival’ terrorist faction for the attack on the Embassy on the anniversary of 9/11 with the stipulation that no one was to be killed. (Intel reports). The order for the Marines not to carry Live ammo – on that anniversary – seems MORONIC to me…unless the Obama administration was told about the agreement above & decided to allow it rather than to defend against it, * made sure the Marines could not to kill.

BOTTOM LINE: ALMOST A DOZEN EMBASSIES WERE ATTACKED/DAMAGED/OVERRUN AS THEY WERE NOT READY FOR AN ATTACK…ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11. THE COMPOUND IN BENGHAZI, WHICH HAD BEEN ATTACKED TWICE BEFORE BY TERRORISTS & AFTER AMB STEVENS WARNED OBAMA THAT WITHOUT ADDITIONAL SECURITY & A 3RD ATTACK OCCURRED HE WOULD DIE, WAR OVERRUN & – AS STEVENS WARNED – STEVENS WAS ASSASSINATED & DRAGGED THROUGH THE STREET.

How in the world can you NOT be on alert on the anniversary of 9/11?

How can you DENY an Ambassador, who was the target of assassination twice before, additional security – especially on that anniversary?

How can you shirk your responsibility to protect the US Ambassador & instead entrust Al Qaeda-backed rebels in Benghazi with the protection of our Ambassador?

How can you order a resonse team 4 hours away who are specifically trained for this situation in Benghazi NOT to go…and then relieve the General in charge of his command because he refused to betray Amercan military personnel under fire & intended to send the team anyway?

How can you you order the Marines guarding an Embassy & Americans NOT to carry live ammo – especially on THAT anniversary?

The ‘Pandora’s Box’ of questions is there yet none of the media is unwilling to open it, & Americans are too busy & don’t care….

yeah there is that too, but I was thinking more specifically since we knew there were threats against it and another attack was already underway.
and I had forgotten about the cairo ammo issue, thats pretty damned damning IMO.

Because the US military doesn’t station any any tacair aircraft at Signonella. Why would you assume that Sigonella would have a ready-alert F-16. This seems like an incredibly strange assumption.

Yeah, I would have done this, but someone in the military who is in charge of jet fighter planes and all would have done something even smarter.

Well, “someone in the military who is in charge of jet fighter planes” may not have thought that it was a good idea to authorize an lone, ready-alert F-16 (without armament – Chris Christie or otherwise) to take their chances busting through Libyan air defenses without any ELINT, COMINT, or ECM support solely for the purpose of buzzing the attackers – assuming that an F-16 had the range from Aviano (which is a bad assumption).

I’m very sorry that so many pesky details get in the way of making informed decisions when it comes to the use of our military assets. It simply doesn’t happen the way it does in the movies. The use of any military asset in the world is usually incredibly constrained by dozens of factors that you never hear about.

All that was needed was leadership and a sense of duty at the top.

No. More than this is needed to effect the use of military assets more quickly than standing plans dictate. However, I agree that it certainly would have helped if Obama had been awake and aggressively pushing from the top. This gives lower echelon commanders the ability to make more aggressive decisions. Mumbling something to his NSA and SecDef about “see what you can do to help” before going to bed certainly isn’t adequate.

Why weren’t UAV’s out of Djibouti sent to support the annex? Flight time from Djibouti is ~4 hours, but they would have had some already in-flight, so that time would be cut down.

Patriot Vet on May 1, 2013 at 9:27 AM

The ones in-flight were retasked to provide overhead surveillance in Benghazi, but they were unarmed. And if you have any experience with overhead surveillance video, then you would know that it can be very difficult to confidently interpret actions on the ground.

Why are you so confident that a UAV was ready for launching in Djibouti? If a UAV was already on station then it’s very likely that other UAV’s weren’t prepared to launch early.

And it’s over 800 nautical miles between Djibouti and Benghazi. Predator transit speed is about 100 knots, so flight time is actually about 8 hours. This is assuming that you ignore dip clearance and decide to bust through Sudanese airspace.

He knew the guy in Tripoli; it was a buddy of his in SF. He was surprised that no one had talked to him about it. No one has even approached him about it. I still have the guy’s card that I met in the airport, but I can’t remember his friends name in Tripoli. I hope that he is one of the guys that is talking.

Patriot Vet on May 1, 2013 at 9:27 AM

Well it’s certainly possible that his information is accurate, but I personally know many situations in which the forward warriors (or unit staffers) failed to accurately comprehend the command-level account of events that had occurred.

Regardless, I’d certainly like to hear an official account of this SF group that wasn’t allowed to accompany the Marines to Benghazi despite having plenty of time to do so. I assume there was room for them on the flight, and that they requested to go.

The ones in-flight were retasked to provide overhead surveillance in Benghazi, but they were unarmed. And if you have any experience with overhead surveillance video, then you would know that it can be very difficult to confidently interpret actions on the ground.

How do we KNOW the drones were unarmed? When armed they (can) carry lazer-guided weapons. One of the SEALS fighting for hours was reportedly on top of a building lazing mortar positions…

1) WH initially reported they thought the attack was just a demonstration / protestors…..’Mortar Positions’ – what ‘protestor’ / member of a ‘demonstration’ carries rocket lanuchers and mortars?

2) Anyone who knows about combat / SpecOps tactics knows when being attacked by superior numbers you don’t stop and waste time lazing targets if there is nothing in the area to laze targets for. Either he was lazing targets for a drone or in (futile) hopes that help (like the AC-130 gunship) would be sent… Knowing what we know about how Obama betrayed these men & left them hanging out to dry (‘Stand Down’), I would not be surprised to learn that the drones were armed & he gave the order NOT to fire! Just sayin’…

blink: I’d certainly like to hear an official account of this SF group that wasn’t allowed to accompany the Marines to Benghazi despite having plenty of time to do so.

blink, I sat in a room with their brethren as this all unfolded. They were dumbfounded at the decisions made / orders given. ‘Angry’ does not even begin to describe – not only by them but by every active duty and retired military member in the room. ‘Betrayed’ is a word often used casually when describing when someone violates our trust, but in this case it meant sentencing decorated, honorable men who had served this nation faithfully to die for no just cause. It was abandoning men who believed in their country & kept the faith in the fact that tgheir nation and their brethren would come to their rescue if they just held on long enough. They fought for 12 – TWELVE – HOURS… I shamefully and sadly wonder if they finally realized at some point near the end the horrific truth that no one was coming – that they had been ‘betrayed’.

The guy in the video, the one in the dar with the voice altered — I have no doubt that he is an active duty SpecOps member. If for some reason military members could be protected un the ‘Whistleblower’ Act there would be a LOT more to come forward. The fact that this administration sacrifices American citizens to Jihadi Islamic Extremists & then threatens the surviving victims in order to maintain their silence is disgusting and repulsive..and anyone who would do such a thing should be considered an ENEMY to this nation!

Why are you so confident that a UAV was ready for launching in Djibouti? If a UAV was already on station then it’s very likely that other UAV’s weren’t prepared to launch early.

And it’s over 800 nautical miles between Djibouti and Benghazi. Predator transit speed is about 100 knots, so flight time is actually about 8 hours. This is assuming that you ignore dip clearance and decide to bust through Sudanese airspace.

blink on May 1, 2013 at 3:33 PM

A guy that I went through BUD/S with is the guy that runs it. He runs all North African operations. I also know that there are SF units in Djibouti, as those were stood up by another SEAL buddy. There are also military jets out of Qatar that could have been launched. Lots of options, why weren’t any of them taken.

My caveat was that they were already airborne, not that they had to be launched.

A UAV with no armament in that environment is just plain stupid. I find it hard to believe. It isn’t impossible, just pushing the credibility spectrum is all.

easyt65 on May 1, 2013 at 3:52 PM

Yes, he would have never lased the target if he had known that there were no munitions on the UAV.

I’d be more impressed if you had been with the EUCOM staff as this all unfolded. The warriors on the ground are often upset with command decisions, but they often don’t know anything about the operational constraints that the staff was faced with that limited their options.

They fought for 12 – TWELVE – HOURS…

That’s a long time for those on the ground under fire, but I think planned African extraction of embassy personnel timeline is 24 hours.

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you that our military isn’t all capable. They may not have had the assets in place to provide much help.

Then you might want to pose the UAV flight time question to him because the numbers don’t make sense.

There are also military jets out of Qatar that could have been launched.

I’m sure there are. How do you know that this wasn’t looked at as a serious option? And what orders/targets would you have provided them? Ground support without a coordination frequency?

A UAV with no armament in that environment is just plain stupid.

Then you obviously don’t know much about recon/surveillance operations. Unarmed UAV flights are conducted in “bad areas” such as Benghazi all the time. That being said, I will agree that this administration certainly should have done more to provide security for our people in Benghazi. I’ve been saying this from the beginning.

Two quick points. I would remind everyone that a little caution is in order here. What the public knows, and will know is going to be shocking. From here on out, things will get bad, very bad. Two, to those who on active duty, or have left or are retired. Please remember OPSEC.( When dealing with comments, we all need a reminder once and while.)